Australian Penthouse

YELLOWBEARD (1983)
Director:  Mel Damski
Stars:  Graham Chapman, Peter Boyle, Peter Cook, John Cleese
Orion/Shock

Review:  Suzan Ryam

THE LOWDOWN

Yellowbeard (Chapman) is the ultimate pirate, a scurvy shyster who feasts on the hearts of his enemies and then forces them to eat their own lips; a crazed man feared by all who travel the high seas.

After 20 years of imprisonment for tax evasion, Yellowbeard escapes to reclaim his buried treasure, but is pursued relentlessly by the Royal Navy and numerous, dubious adversaries (Cleese, Cheech Marin, Tommy Chong, Marty Feldman, Spike Milligan).

However, fate intervenes when Yellowbeard visits a wench (Madeline Kahn) only to discover that, 18 years ago, she birthed him an illegitimate son, the fey Dan (Martin Hewitt), whose head she had tattooed with the map to the pirate’s long-lost  treasure.

Yellowbeard is forced to protect the bookish son he despises, avoid capture, and locate his buried treasure, discovering on the way the true bond of a father-son relationship.

NUTS AND BOLTS

Written by comedy legends Graham Chapman (The Life Of Brian) and Peter Cook (Bedazzled, Derek And Clive Get The Horn), Yellowbeard is a classic example of the kind of madcap comedy made famous by the Monty Python team, and is superbly augmented with the addition of American comedy masters such as Marty Feldman, Peter Boyle, Madeline Kahn, and Cheech and Chong.

Regularly cited by fans as the funniest genre movie ever made, Yellowbeard combines a masterful blend of wit, plot, cast and timing to create one of the most revered comedies of the modern era.

The movie remains buoyant via cleverly paced witticisms and superb turns by the peerless Peter Cook, as the inestimably clueless Lord Lambourn; Graham Chapman as the rape-happy, smoking-haired titular pirate; James Mason as the fumbling Captain Hughes (companion to Texta-moustached crew member ‘Mr Prostitute’); Cheech Marin as the sycophantic subject to spit-flinging Spanish King El Nebuloso (Tommy Chong), “Yes sir, your arseholiness!”; and John Cleese as Harvey ‘Blind’ Pew, the Queen’s visually-impaired, sharp-eared spy.

DVD EXTRAS

Extras consist of the original movie trailer: both disappointing and insulting considering the wealth of information and extras provided on the Monty Python movies and the fame and status of the cast.

VERDICT

Yellowbeard should see you crawl, crawl, stagger, stagger to your nearest DVD store for a dose of classic comedy.